Ripple's XRP Token Spikes Following Chatter It Might Be Added to Coinbase

Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency surged Monday, March 5, on fresh rumors it might be added to the popular Coinbase exchange.

Around 1:50 p.m. ET, Ripple's cross border payment coin XRP jumped 9.58% to $1.04 per token, according to pricing data from Coinmarketcap. Earlier in the session, XRP traded jumped as much as 20%. Trading volume spiked to $1.87 billion, crossing the billion-dollar volume threshold for the first time since Sunday, Feb. 18.

The price rally comes amid chatter in the cryptocurrency sphere that an upcoming joint appearance from Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Coinbase President Asiff Hirji will bring with it an announcement that Coinbase will begin supporting XRP trades, Business Insider reported. Garlinghouse and Hirji are set to both appear on CNBC's Fast Money program on Tuesday, March 6, with two other cryptocurrency experts.

It would be an important development for XRP to make it onto Coinbase. Currently, XRP is one of the harder cryptocurrencies to buy and sell due in large part to its relative absence from larger exchanges such as Coinbase.

Coinbase currently supports trading for bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. According to the Coinbase site, it has facilitated more than $50 billion in digital currency exchanges in 32 countries for more than 10 million customers.

Ripple's XRP began this year trading at about $2.39. Since Jan. 1, XRP has fallen about 56%. Before this rally, XRP had spent 10 straight days under the $1 threshold. Despite this year's losses, XRP remains the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, behind bitcoin and ethereum.